The present invention relates to reciprocating pumps and more particularly to pressure-actuated seals and lubricators as applied to high pressure reciprocating pumps.
Prior art reciprocating pumps usually obtain sealing against fluid leakage around the piston by maintaining very small clearances between the sliding elements and by elastic or resilient packings between the elements. At very high fluid pressures, the clearances required become too small to afford proper lubrication between the sliding elements, or the compression required of the packings too great to permit adjacent elements to slide freely relative to each other. Various methods of sealing high pressure pump systems have been attempted including self-sealing concepts, but all have sacrificed efficient lubrication between moving parts, have introduced additional stresses within critical elements, or have limited their use to low pressure applications. Moreover, these attempts have generally produced a more costly and more complex system.